Scavenger Hunt: Easter Edition
by xoxoRuflyGirl
Summary: Aiden send Hope on a very special scavenger hunt for Easter.
**_The Scavenger Hunt: Easter Edition_**

"That was such a wonderful sermon, wasn't it?" Julie asked Hope as church ended. It was Easter Sunday, and most of Salem had just enjoyed the Easter sermon.

Hope nodded. It really was. "It's such a beautiful day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus too." She looked around the beautiful church grounds. The sun was shining, and the flowers were blooming. The sky was blue as could be with white, fluffy clouds shattered about.

"It's too bad it isn't just a little bit warmer. Otherwise we could have the Easter brunch outdoors," Julie said, in reference to the big Easter brunch she was hosting at her and Doug's B&B.

"It's still so pretty in the sun room though. It will be nice," Hope said with a smile.

"So, are you all headed over right now?" Julie asked. "I could use your help in the kitchen with the devilled eggs."

Before Hope could respond, Aiden spoke up. He placed an arm around Hope's waist. "Actually, Julie, I have a quick surprise for Hope that I wanted to give to her before we head over. It will take us a short bit."

Julie raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Aiden nodded. "She has to go on a scavenger hunt to find it."

"How long is this going to take?" Hope asked him. She raised an eyebrow. "Not that I'm not intrigued."

"Depending on how good you are at deciphering the clues," Aiden told her with a wink. "I'd say about a half hour. There are only five clues."

"I'll help you, Grandma Julie," Ciara offered. "Trust me, you'd rather have my help than Mom's when it comes to making food anyway."

"Hey! As long as it's not cooking, I'm fine," Hope protested.

"Yeah, she's still better off with me helping," Ciara said. "I'm taking cooking in school now for one of my APs."

"Well, all right then." Julie turned to Aiden. "But don't keep her long. I want you both at the brunch by eleven."

"We'll be there," Aiden assured her.

Aiden then took Hope's hand, and led her to the car. He handed her a note.

Hope smiled at him. "I had no idea you had something planned for me."

"I wanted to surprise you for Easter," he said with a grin. "By the way, this isn't just any scavenger hunt. It's an Easter egg scavenger hunt. Each egg holds a surprise. The last egg will be your biggest surprise."

"Now I'm _really_ intrigued," Hope said. She opened the note he had given her, and read it out loud. "The first egg you won't want to miss. You will find it in the place where we shared our first kiss."

She smiled at Aiden. "The spot in the park isn't far from here. We can just walk."

"I'm glad you remember where," he said, taking her hand in his own.

"How could I ever forget?" she asked, her eyes shining with love for him.

He smiled at her, noting but love for her in his eyes as well.

They then headed hand-in-hand to the park.

*Happy Easter!*

When they got to the park, Hope led Aiden by the hand to the spot where they had their first kiss. It wasn't far from the water. She could hear the water swishing. It was such a peaceful sound.

She looked around, and hidden behind a tree, she saw a hint of pastel pink.

"Found it!" she said with a grin as she ran over to it. She picked up the plastic pink egg and shook it. She heard a variety of sounds in it, but couldn't quite make out what they were.

"Go ahead and open it," he gently ordered.

She carefully opened the egg, then looked at Aiden, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Pennies and stars?" The egg was filled with three pennies and a handful of little plastic silver and yellow stars.

"I put pennies and stars in there before you make all my wishes come true. People throw pennies into a wishing fountain and wish on stars," he explained.

Hope looked at the egg contents for a second before closing the egg up and plopping it in her purse. Then, she took Aiden's face between her hands and kissed him softly on the lips. "That is one of the most romantic things you could have said, Mr. Jennings."

"Well, it's all true, Hope. You're my hope, my wish, and my fantasy," he said to her, gently stroking her cheek.

"And you're mine," she said.

They kissed some more for a bit, then Aiden broke the kiss. "I better give you the next clue before we're late for brunch and Julie sends out the hounds to hunt us down." He grinned.

"You say that like you're joking but she really would. You don't know Julie like I do," Hope said with a grin.

Aiden laughed, and then handed her the next clue.

Hope unfolded the small note and read it out loud. "Go to the place where we danced the waltz and you stroked my hair. You were just starting to fall in love, but I was already there."

Hope stroked his hair just as she had at the gala, then pulled in him in for another kiss. "Your poems are enough present for me as it is!"

Aiden gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "You deserve so much more than poems, Baby."

"You and your poems are more than enough," Hope said to him, her eyes lowered with love. "But all right. Let's go to the Salem Inn!"

They grinned at each other, then headed back to the car.

*Happy Easter!*

When they got to the Salem Inn, Hope knew just where to look. She headed into the room where she and Aiden had danced to the waltz what felt like an eternity ago at the St. Luke's gala. Sure enough, upon searching the room, she found a purple egg setting in a flower pot on a table that was in the room. She opened the egg and smiled when she saw that it was filled with four-leaf clovers.

"The four leaf clovers represent how lucky I am to not only have had you fall in love with me the first time, but also for you to have fallen in love with me again and forgiven me for what I did to you. Hope, having you as my love makes me the luckiest man on earth," Aiden explained.

Hope had tears in her eyes. She closed the egg and put it in her purse with the other one, then pulled him in for a long and meaningful kiss. She rested her forehead against his. "I'm the lucky one, Mr. Jennings. I thank God for you every day."

"What a coincidence. It just so happens that I thank God for _you_ every day," Aiden murmured.

They kissed some more.

"For added bonus points, I made the egg purple because you were wearing a purple dress that night. And… I know we're in a hurry, but what do you say we waltz one more time for old time's sake?" He pressed play on the CD player that was also on the table. Hope hadn't noticed it before.

Immediately, their song began to play.

Hope's eyes were filled with tears again. "Oh, Aiden…" she whispered.

"Don't cry, my Love. You're far too pretty to cry." Aiden gently wiped away her tears with his thumbs, then they got in hold, and began to waltz to their song.

It was just like old times only better as they glided across the room, their eyes on each other's the whole time, nothing but love for each other in the other's eyes.

Hope brushed some hair out of his eyes, and when the song ended, this time, unlike at the gala, their lips came together as one.

After a moment of kissing, Aiden turned the player off and grabbed the CD. "All right. Here's your next clue." He handed her another folded piece of paper.

She took the paper from him, opened it up, and read it out loud like she had the others. "Right upstairs is where for the first time, I made you mine. In case you've forgotten, it's room 299."

She smiled at him. "You remember the room we made love for the first time in?"

Aiden nodded. He tapped his temple. "As a lawyer, I have to have a good memory. Anyway, you made me so happy that day, and I knew it was a special moment in our lives. So, I made a mental note of the room number so that we could always have it as our special room."

"You never told me that before," Hope replied.

"I wanted to save it for a special occasion like tonight. I booked us the room," Aiden said. "That's an added bonus to your surprise."

Hoped practically jumped on him, and kissed him passionately on the lips. "If we didn't have a brunch to go to, we'd be taking advantage of the room right now. Heck, I'm half-tempted to say forget the brunch!"

"As tempting as that offer is, I really don't want Julie's wrath upon me. Do you want it on you?" Aiden asked her.

"Um, I'm going to go with no," Hope said with a smirk.

Aiden grinned. "Besides, we still have a scavenger hunt to attend to."

Hope grinned too, and excitedly grabbed his arm. "Let's go!" she head, pulling him along to head to their room.

*Happy Easter!*

When they arrived in the room, Hope saw a rainbow-colored egg waiting for her on the bed. She picked up the egg and opened it to reveal a bunch of chocolate gold coins.

"This is kind of similar to the other one. You're the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow. You're the best treasure I could ever ask for," Aiden explained.

Hope sat down on the bed, then smiled at him, and pat the spot beside her.

Aiden sat down beside her and watched as she took out a gold coin and unwrapped it.

She then held it to his lips. "You're my treasure too," she murmured.

He let her feed him the chocolate, then he took a gold coin, unwrapped it, and fed it to her.

They kissed, then fell back onto the bed, kissing.

Aiden ran his hand up the skirt of her dress, letting his right hand slowly roam up her left thigh.

She moaned as his hand started trailing further up. She placed her hand on his, and gently pushed it back down. "We can't," she said out of breath. "Not now. The brunch… Julie…"

Aiden sighed, and sat back up. "Way to kill the mood," he teased.

She grinned, and he helped her up.

Hope closed the remainder of her chocolate gold coins in the egg, then put that egg in her purse as well. "All right. Next clue please?"

Aiden handed her another folded up note.

As she had with the others, she read he next clue out loud. "The place of our first date is too far away to hold a clue, so you'll have to settle for the place that ends in a no's and stars with U."

Hope thought about it for a moment. "Uno's?" She asked, her brows knit in confusion.

Aiden grinned. "It's the Chicago Grill after all."

Hope grinned; getting the connection. "And our first date was in Chicago." She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Clever compromise."

"I thought so," Aiden said smugly.

They laughed.

"All right. Let's get going so we can finish this before Julie blows a gasket!" Hope said, getting up off the bed and extending her hand to help him off the bed as well.

"And after the brunch we come back here?" Aiden asked, an eyebrow raised.

Hope pulled him close and brushed her lips against his ear. "You can count on it, Mr. Jennings," she said in a breathy voice.

Aiden moaned, then let her lead him out of the room by hand.

*Happy Easter!*

When they got to Uno's, Hope had no idea where to begin looking.

She looked at Aiden. "Can you give me a clue as to the whereabouts? It is somewhere in the parking lot or is it somewhere inside?"

"I couldn't just leave it for any kid or even adult to find and pick up. I bet, as with any restaurant, if you ask someone at the host and hostess desk they'd be sure to help you," Aiden replied with a wink and a smile at her.

Hope smirked, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are they expecting me?"

Aiden shrugged. "They might be."

Hope rolled her eyes in exasperation, but she secretly loved the whole scavenger hunt idea.

She headed into the restaurant with Aiden right behind her. She then went up to the hostess, and asked her, even though she was slightly embarrassed. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but my boyfriend has sent me on a scavenger hunt and says that you might have one of the clues in the form of a plastic egg?"

The hostess smiled at Hope. "Congrats on finding your next clue." She turned around to grab a light blue plastic egg, then she handed it to Hope. "Have fun!" She smiled and winked at her.

Hope smirked as she took the egg. "Thanks." She then headed out of the restaurant to look at her egg outside where it was quieter and more private, Aiden right behind her.

When she got outside, she opened the egg and was surprised to see a tiny photograph of herself.

She looked at Aiden, an eyebrow raised. "A picture of me? I don't get it."

Aiden nodded toward the picture. "Take it out of the egg."

Hope did as told.

"What's left in the egg?" Aiden asked her.

"Nothing," Hope stated, still a little confused. Then her eyes lit up as it struck her.

Aiden said it before she could say it out loud. "Without you, I have nothing."

"You have Chase," Hope reminded him.

Aiden wrapped his arms around her from behind. "True, but there's a certain part of my heart that only you can fill."

Hope smiled as she shut the picture back in the egg. She dropped the egg in her purse, then turned around to face Aiden. She took his hands in her own and kissed them. Then, she placed them over her heart. "Just as a part of my heart beats only for you."

Their eyes lowered with love for each other, and they kissed for a moment.

Hope reluctantly broke the kiss, and sighed. "There's one last clue, right? You said five?"

Aiden nodded. "Your final clue." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a note. He handed it to her.

Hope took the note and read it out loud. "This is the place where all my dreams came true and I was finally married to you."

"Even though I was out of my mind that night after we married, marrying you was still a dream come true to me. All my vows to you were real. l will never love another woman the way I love you," Aiden explained.

Hope hugged him tightly. "I forgive you for what you did to me. I understand what you were going through. Trust me, I've been through being so out of my mind insane that I'd do anything to protect the ones I love and, I'd hurt the ones who hurt them. Anyway, I know that's not who you are anymore."

Aiden held her tight. "Good, because I can't live without you, Hope. A life without you just isn't worth living."

Hope kissed him softly on the lips, then took his hand. "Let's head to Dad and Julie's B&B."

Aiden nodded, then kissed her before opening the car door for her.

*Happy Easter!*

When they got to Doug and Julie's, Hope headed into the room where she and Aiden had married. Thankfully, it still held good memories for her. She just chose to block out what happened once they had gone home.

She looked around, then spotted the plastic-mint green egg setting in the back of the room where they had been pronounced husband and wife. It was on the floor right where they had stood when getting married.

She picked up the egg and opened it up. She gasped when she saw a red heart ring inside the egg.

"It's not an engagement ring. I know you're not ready for that yet. It's a silver ring with a garnet since a garnet is your birthstone. It is a promise ring. It represents a promise from me to never hurt you ever again. It's a promise that I will love you forever. It's a promise that I will always stay faithful to you, and that you're worth the wait," Aiden explained.

Hope was so touched that she had tears in her eyes. "I feel horrible I didn't get you anything for Easter. I didn't know Easter was a gift-giving holiday other than Easter baskets for the kids!"

Aiden laughed. "Baby, you don't have to get me anything! That's not why I did this. I did this simply because I love you! You forgiving me for what I did to you is better than any tangible gift you could have given me anyway."

Hope took out the ring, closed the egg, and dropped the empty egg into her bag. She then handed the ring to him, then held out her right index finger. "Will you put it on me? I don't want people assuming it's an engagement ring. Ciara would have a heart attack!" she joked.

Aiden laughed. "Oh, I bet she would!" He took the ring from her, then slowly slid it onto her right ring finger.

She then took his face between her hands and kissed him passionately. She rested her forehead against his. "Thank you. I love it so much! I love _you_ so much! It's just perfect."

" _You're_ perfect," Aiden told her.

They kissed some more.

"Ah hem!"

They broke the kiss and looked over at Doug, who had just loudly cleared his throat.

"I'm so sorry to break up this clearly beautiful moment between you two, but the brunch is about to start, and Julie is ready to snap the neck of anyone who isn't in attendance that should be. You may want to head into the sun room now."

Hope and Aiden both smirked.

"We'll be right there, Daddy," Hope said to him.

As soon as Doug left, Hope pulled Aiden close again, and murmured in his ear. "Let's go get this brunch over with so that we can relive our past and make love in the afternoon again."

Aiden moaned, and pulled her closer yet. "Do you think we can snatch some Champaign from the brunch to bring with us? You know, since we had some last time." He smiled and winked at her.

Hope smirked, and raised an eyebrow. "It wouldn't hurt to try." She winked back at him.

They laughed, then kissed before taking hands, and heading out to the sun room brunch.

 ** _*The End*_**

 ** _The Scavenger Hunt: Easter Edition_**

"That was such a wonderful sermon, wasn't it?" Julie asked Hope as church ended. It was Easter Sunday, and most of Salem had just enjoyed the Easter sermon.

Hope nodded. It really was. "It's such a beautiful day to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus too." She looked around the beautiful church grounds. The sun was shining, and the flowers were blooming. The sky was blue as could be with white, fluffy clouds shattered about.

"It's too bad it isn't just a little bit warmer. Otherwise we could have the Easter brunch outdoors," Julie said, in reference to the big Easter brunch she was hosting at her and Doug's B&B.

"It's still so pretty in the sun room though. It will be nice," Hope said with a smile.

"So, are you all headed over right now?" Julie asked. "I could use your help in the kitchen with the devilled eggs."

Before Hope could respond, Aiden spoke up. He placed an arm around Hope's waist. "Actually, Julie, I have a quick surprise for Hope that I wanted to give to her before we head over. It will take us a short bit."

Julie raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Aiden nodded. "She has to go on a scavenger hunt to find it."

"How long is this going to take?" Hope asked him. She raised an eyebrow. "Not that I'm not intrigued."

"Depending on how good you are at deciphering the clues," Aiden told her with a wink. "I'd say about a half hour. There are only five clues."

"I'll help you, Grandma Julie," Ciara offered. "Trust me, you'd rather have my help than Mom's when it comes to making food anyway."

"Hey! As long as it's not cooking, I'm fine," Hope protested.

"Yeah, she's still better off with me helping," Ciara said. "I'm taking cooking in school now for one of my APs."

"Well, all right then." Julie turned to Aiden. "But don't keep her long. I want you both at the brunch by eleven."

"We'll be there," Aiden assured her.

Aiden then took Hope's hand, and led her to the car. He handed her a note.

Hope smiled at him. "I had no idea you had something planned for me."

"I wanted to surprise you for Easter," he said with a grin. "By the way, this isn't just any scavenger hunt. It's an Easter egg scavenger hunt. Each egg holds a surprise. The last egg will be your biggest surprise."

"Now I'm _really_ intrigued," Hope said. She opened the note he had given her, and read it out loud. "The first egg you won't want to miss. You will find it in the place where we shared our first kiss."

She smiled at Aiden. "The spot in the park isn't far from here. We can just walk."

"I'm glad you remember where," he said, taking her hand in his own.

"How could I ever forget?" she asked, her eyes shining with love for him.

He smiled at her, noting but love for her in his eyes as well.

They then headed hand-in-hand to the park.

*Happy Easter!*

When they got to the park, Hope led Aiden by the hand to the spot where they had their first kiss. It wasn't far from the water. She could hear the water swishing. It was such a peaceful sound.

She looked around, and hidden behind a tree, she saw a hint of pastel pink.

"Found it!" she said with a grin as she ran over to it. She picked up the plastic pink egg and shook it. She heard a variety of sounds in it, but couldn't quite make out what they were.

"Go ahead and open it," he gently ordered.

She carefully opened the egg, then looked at Aiden, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Pennies and stars?" The egg was filled with three pennies and a handful of little plastic silver and yellow stars.

"I put pennies and stars in there before you make all my wishes come true. People throw pennies into a wishing fountain and wish on stars," he explained.

Hope looked at the egg contents for a second before closing the egg up and plopping it in her purse. Then, she took Aiden's face between her hands and kissed him softly on the lips. "That is one of the most romantic things you could have said, Mr. Jennings."

"Well, it's all true, Hope. You're my hope, my wish, and my fantasy," he said to her, gently stroking her cheek.

"And you're mine," she said.

They kissed some more for a bit, then Aiden broke the kiss. "I better give you the next clue before we're late for brunch and Julie sends out the hounds to hunt us down." He grinned.

"You say that like you're joking but she really would. You don't know Julie like I do," Hope said with a grin.

Aiden laughed, and then handed her the next clue.

Hope unfolded the small note and read it out loud. "Go to the place where we danced the waltz and you stroked my hair. You were just starting to fall in love, but I was already there."

Hope stroked his hair just as she had at the gala, then pulled in him in for another kiss. "Your poems are enough present for me as it is!"

Aiden gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "You deserve so much more than poems, Baby."

"You and your poems are more than enough," Hope said to him, her eyes lowered with love. "But all right. Let's go to the Salem Inn!"

They grinned at each other, then headed back to the car.

*Happy Easter!*

When they got to the Salem Inn, Hope knew just where to look. She headed into the room where she and Aiden had danced to the waltz what felt like an eternity ago at the St. Luke's gala. Sure enough, upon searching the room, she found a purple egg setting in a flower pot on a table that was in the room. She opened the egg and smiled when she saw that it was filled with four-leaf clovers.

"The four leaf clovers represent how lucky I am to not only have had you fall in love with me the first time, but also for you to have fallen in love with me again and forgiven me for what I did to you. Hope, having you as my love makes me the luckiest man on earth," Aiden explained.

Hope had tears in her eyes. She closed the egg and put it in her purse with the other one, then pulled him in for a long and meaningful kiss. She rested her forehead against his. "I'm the lucky one, Mr. Jennings. I thank God for you every day."

"What a coincidence. It just so happens that I thank God for _you_ every day," Aiden murmured.

They kissed some more.

"For added bonus points, I made the egg purple because you were wearing a purple dress that night. And… I know we're in a hurry, but what do you say we waltz one more time for old time's sake?" He pressed play on the CD player that was also on the table. Hope hadn't noticed it before.

Immediately, their song began to play.

Hope's eyes were filled with tears again. "Oh, Aiden…" she whispered.

"Don't cry, my Love. You're far too pretty to cry." Aiden gently wiped away her tears with his thumbs, then they got in hold, and began to waltz to their song.

It was just like old times only better as they glided across the room, their eyes on each other's the whole time, nothing but love for each other in the other's eyes.

Hope brushed some hair out of his eyes, and when the song ended, this time, unlike at the gala, their lips came together as one.

After a moment of kissing, Aiden turned the player off and grabbed the CD. "All right. Here's your next clue." He handed her another folded piece of paper.

She took the paper from him, opened it up, and read it out loud like she had the others. "Right upstairs is where for the first time, I made you mine. In case you've forgotten, it's room 299."

She smiled at him. "You remember the room we made love for the first time in?"

Aiden nodded. He tapped his temple. "As a lawyer, I have to have a good memory. Anyway, you made me so happy that day, and I knew it was a special moment in our lives. So, I made a mental note of the room number so that we could always have it as our special room."

"You never told me that before," Hope replied.

"I wanted to save it for a special occasion like tonight. I booked us the room," Aiden said. "That's an added bonus to your surprise."

Hoped practically jumped on him, and kissed him passionately on the lips. "If we didn't have a brunch to go to, we'd be taking advantage of the room right now. Heck, I'm half-tempted to say forget the brunch!"

"As tempting as that offer is, I really don't want Julie's wrath upon me. Do you want it on you?" Aiden asked her.

"Um, I'm going to go with no," Hope said with a smirk.

Aiden grinned. "Besides, we still have a scavenger hunt to attend to."

Hope grinned too, and excitedly grabbed his arm. "Let's go!" she head, pulling him along to head to their room.

*Happy Easter!*

When they arrived in the room, Hope saw a rainbow-colored egg waiting for her on the bed. She picked up the egg and opened it to reveal a bunch of chocolate gold coins.

"This is kind of similar to the other one. You're the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow. You're the best treasure I could ever ask for," Aiden explained.

Hope sat down on the bed, then smiled at him, and pat the spot beside her.

Aiden sat down beside her and watched as she took out a gold coin and unwrapped it.

She then held it to his lips. "You're my treasure too," she murmured.

He let her feed him the chocolate, then he took a gold coin, unwrapped it, and fed it to her.

They kissed, then fell back onto the bed, kissing.

Aiden ran his hand up the skirt of her dress, letting his right hand slowly roam up her left thigh.

She moaned as his hand started trailing further up. She placed her hand on his, and gently pushed it back down. "We can't," she said out of breath. "Not now. The brunch… Julie…"

Aiden sighed, and sat back up. "Way to kill the mood," he teased.

She grinned, and he helped her up.

Hope closed the remainder of her chocolate gold coins in the egg, then put that egg in her purse as well. "All right. Next clue please?"

Aiden handed her another folded up note.

As she had with the others, she read he next clue out loud. "The place of our first date is too far away to hold a clue, so you'll have to settle for the place that ends in a no's and stars with U."

Hope thought about it for a moment. "Uno's?" She asked, her brows knit in confusion.

Aiden grinned. "It's the Chicago Grill after all."

Hope grinned; getting the connection. "And our first date was in Chicago." She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Clever compromise."

"I thought so," Aiden said smugly.

They laughed.

"All right. Let's get going so we can finish this before Julie blows a gasket!" Hope said, getting up off the bed and extending her hand to help him off the bed as well.

"And after the brunch we come back here?" Aiden asked, an eyebrow raised.

Hope pulled him close and brushed her lips against his ear. "You can count on it, Mr. Jennings," she said in a breathy voice.

Aiden moaned, then let her lead him out of the room by hand.

*Happy Easter!*

When they got to Uno's, Hope had no idea where to begin looking.

She looked at Aiden. "Can you give me a clue as to the whereabouts? It is somewhere in the parking lot or is it somewhere inside?"

"I couldn't just leave it for any kid or even adult to find and pick up. I bet, as with any restaurant, if you ask someone at the host and hostess desk they'd be sure to help you," Aiden replied with a wink and a smile at her.

Hope smirked, and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are they expecting me?"

Aiden shrugged. "They might be."

Hope rolled her eyes in exasperation, but she secretly loved the whole scavenger hunt idea.

She headed into the restaurant with Aiden right behind her. She then went up to the hostess, and asked her, even though she was slightly embarrassed. "Excuse me, Ma'am, but my boyfriend has sent me on a scavenger hunt and says that you might have one of the clues in the form of a plastic egg?"

The hostess smiled at Hope. "Congrats on finding your next clue." She turned around to grab a light blue plastic egg, then she handed it to Hope. "Have fun!" She smiled and winked at her.

Hope smirked as she took the egg. "Thanks." She then headed out of the restaurant to look at her egg outside where it was quieter and more private, Aiden right behind her.

When she got outside, she opened the egg and was surprised to see a tiny photograph of herself.

She looked at Aiden, an eyebrow raised. "A picture of me? I don't get it."

Aiden nodded toward the picture. "Take it out of the egg."

Hope did as told.

"What's left in the egg?" Aiden asked her.

"Nothing," Hope stated, still a little confused. Then her eyes lit up as it struck her.

Aiden said it before she could say it out loud. "Without you, I have nothing."

"You have Chase," Hope reminded him.

Aiden wrapped his arms around her from behind. "True, but there's a certain part of my heart that only you can fill."

Hope smiled as she shut the picture back in the egg. She dropped the egg in her purse, then turned around to face Aiden. She took his hands in her own and kissed them. Then, she placed them over her heart. "Just as a part of my heart beats only for you."

Their eyes lowered with love for each other, and they kissed for a moment.

Hope reluctantly broke the kiss, and sighed. "There's one last clue, right? You said five?"

Aiden nodded. "Your final clue." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a note. He handed it to her.

Hope took the note and read it out loud. "This is the place where all my dreams came true and I was finally married to you."

"Even though I was out of my mind that night after we married, marrying you was still a dream come true to me. All my vows to you were real. l will never love another woman the way I love you," Aiden explained.

Hope hugged him tightly. "I forgive you for what you did to me. I understand what you were going through. Trust me, I've been through being so out of my mind insane that I'd do anything to protect the ones I love and, I'd hurt the ones who hurt them. Anyway, I know that's not who you are anymore."

Aiden held her tight. "Good, because I can't live without you, Hope. A life without you just isn't worth living."

Hope kissed him softly on the lips, then took his hand. "Let's head to Dad and Julie's B&B."

Aiden nodded, then kissed her before opening the car door for her.

*Happy Easter!*

When they got to Doug and Julie's, Hope headed into the room where she and Aiden had married. Thankfully, it still held good memories for her. She just chose to block out what happened once they had gone home.

She looked around, then spotted the plastic-mint green egg setting in the back of the room where they had been pronounced husband and wife. It was on the floor right where they had stood when getting married.

She picked up the egg and opened it up. She gasped when she saw a red heart ring inside the egg.

"It's not an engagement ring. I know you're not ready for that yet. It's a silver ring with a garnet since a garnet is your birthstone. It is a promise ring. It represents a promise from me to never hurt you ever again. It's a promise that I will love you forever. It's a promise that I will always stay faithful to you, and that you're worth the wait," Aiden explained.

Hope was so touched that she had tears in her eyes. "I feel horrible I didn't get you anything for Easter. I didn't know Easter was a gift-giving holiday other than Easter baskets for the kids!"

Aiden laughed. "Baby, you don't have to get me anything! That's not why I did this. I did this simply because I love you! You forgiving me for what I did to you is better than any tangible gift you could have given me anyway."

Hope took out the ring, closed the egg, and dropped the empty egg into her bag. She then handed the ring to him, then held out her right index finger. "Will you put it on me? I don't want people assuming it's an engagement ring. Ciara would have a heart attack!" she joked.

Aiden laughed. "Oh, I bet she would!" He took the ring from her, then slowly slid it onto her right ring finger.

She then took his face between her hands and kissed him passionately. She rested her forehead against his. "Thank you. I love it so much! I love _you_ so much! It's just perfect."

" _You're_ perfect," Aiden told her.

They kissed some more.

"Ah hem!"

They broke the kiss and looked over at Doug, who had just loudly cleared his throat.

"I'm so sorry to break up this clearly beautiful moment between you two, but the brunch is about to start, and Julie is ready to snap the neck of anyone who isn't in attendance that should be. You may want to head into the sun room now."

Hope and Aiden both smirked.

"We'll be right there, Daddy," Hope said to him.

As soon as Doug left, Hope pulled Aiden close again, and murmured in his ear. "Let's go get this brunch over with so that we can relive our past and make love in the afternoon again."

Aiden moaned, and pulled her closer yet. "Do you think we can snatch some Champaign from the brunch to bring with us? You know, since we had some last time." He smiled and winked at her.

Hope smirked, and raised an eyebrow. "It wouldn't hurt to try." She winked back at him.

They laughed, then kissed before taking hands, and heading out to the sun room brunch.

 ** _*The End*_**


End file.
